Jungle

I watched this after seeing posters for it everywhere in London, which look sick and really attention grabbing. The opening sequence with the lips and the clock was cool, I had high hopes. But it just never really went anywhere. I feel like it could have been great if it was more polished and more thought through. Cos there was lots of good stuff in there. Visual style and cinematography was on point, Ezra was solid, so was Poundz, the girl who played Gogos girl, Poundz mum. But then so many of the other performances were wooden and awkward. There were scenes where I had second hand embarrassment watching it- Tinie Tempah's scene? So bad I had to watch behind my hands. There were a few bits that were so corny I was shocked they made it in, it was like GCSE drama. I liked the two stories thing but was bored by ep 5 and 6. It definitely could have been 4 killer eps if it was written better. And the way they were woven in could have been more slick.

But the weirdest thing about it to me was the narrator. What was that? At first I thought it was Gogo at the end of his life looking back, or his Dad or father figure that we didn't see. Read books, travel the world... DMO! It felt like that wear sunscreen song- preachy and egotistical and unnecessary. And what was said in the narration didn't relate to what was in each episode. It was just a load of random thoughts- a vanity thing by the writers I guess. I was thinking, who is this brudda and why is he telling me how to live my life??

Overall- ok to watch, lots of potential, visually good but basic storyline, felt a bit amateur. Oh and the rapping- really worked for some people, not for others.

Very very strange musical style to the show which makes no sense at all, kind of like it's tried to replicate shiros story and blue story while trying to be like top boy/kidulthood at the same time.

Once again Amazon making a series look good with awful film makers, writers and producers you can't stick good actors in a awful show and just expect it to work.

Everytime you think the show is about to get good they do another one of the stupid musical cut scenes and try and make it into some unique style of their own and it just fails miserably I honestly think Amazon need to hire better people to decide on good ideas and better produced film/series. Netflix seems to get it right with everything they put effort into and I can't understand why the richest company in the world is struggling so hard to make anything that isn't cheesy.

The first episode tries to be a mix between a musical poetry similar to romeo + Juliet while also trying to be like the kidulthood trilogy but it just fails at both unfortunatly, on the up side we get to see k koke make an apperance. Everything is just so bland.

Its like the show has identity issues, its not exactly cyberpunk although it tries so hard to be, with its bright neon lights in places where it has no business to be and lifts with no light at all... the whole episode just reminded me in the worst way of how a blade tv series could go so horribly wrong and yet its not exactly hip-hop either as actors will for no reason at all start rapping to eachother in the most bizarre places... theres no real explanation or proper transition.

Where to start?

This series is just as tired and warn out as the UK drill scene.

The amount of service level conversations portrayed as deep meaningful dialogue. Honestly, it's so highly cringe is almost unbearable.

The acting is very sub par...so much over acting, you can clearly see that every is trying, but it just looks forced, cringe and falls flat on it's face.

It's looks slick, but after a few slow motion panning shots this runs dry pretty quickly.

Overall a wasted opportunity with a big budget to do something great. If this gets renewed for a second season, I'll eat my hat!

It's a 1/10 for me.

The series Top Boy is the benchmark for British London urban black gangster drug dealing gang drama tv. When I saw the trailer for Jungle I expected something similar. Jungle is very different! Set in the near future the series focuses on the characters personal suffering. The drug/gang violence is prominent, but the individual struggles of the working class broken home adolescents is the main theme. The ad lib rapping is fresh and unique and it works wonderfully. The show is not about glamourising the gangster lifestyle but more about highlighting the hardships of the younger siblings that get caught up in the gang culture. Yes, some may argue that the show is more style over substance but I enjoyed it immensely. It is stunning from a cinematography point of view, and at only 6 episodes long I highly recommend watching!

PRO TIP: I recommend watching with subtitles to get the most out of the British slang!